STI rose moderately in quiet trading sessions, as there lacks positive news from the corporate world. At 5:10pm today, STI stood at 2,882.73, up 26.79 points, or 0.94% from last month. My portfolio moved slightly ahead of the index, its value rose 1.17% this month. HTL and Ascendas H-Trust were among the best performers this month, after news of acquisition surfaced.
This month, I bought shares from KSH, Tai Sin and Lee Metal. I also received Mapletree Ind Tr and Cambridge Ind Tr shares through scrip dividend scheme. Net cash injected amounts to S$15,138.00. I also received some bonus shares from KSH.
On the dividend side, total dividend this month from shares and UT amounts to S$11,335.00. Below are the top 30 holdings as at 5:10pm on 30 December.
1. ComfortDelGro
2. SPH
3. OCBC Bank
4. DBS
5. Ausnet Services
6. Kep Inf Tr fKa CIT
7. ST Engineering
8. Metro
9. SGX
10. Sembcorp Ind
11. Starhub
12. Frasers Comm Tr
13. CapitaLand
14. AIMSAMP Cap Reit
15. HTL Int
16. SATS
17. OUE
18. Keppel Corp
19. Tai Sin Electric
20. Nam Lee Metal
21. CapitaComm Tr
22. Nikko AM STI ETF 100
23. KSH
24. Ascendas Reit
25. Stamford Land
26. SIA
27. Ascendas-h Trust
28. United Engineers
29. Saizen Reit
30. Global Inv
There are 5 new entries (compared with last month) in the bottom half of the table. Share prices HTL and Ascendas-h Trust surged after news of acquisition was announced. They will disappear from the list in near future. KSH and Tai Sin entered the list due to new purchase and bonus share issue, while SIA share price rose over a dollar this month.
As a whole, 2015 has not been a good year for equity investment. STI started well this year, and was above 3,400 in April. Then came a slew of bad news and now it stood at 2,882.73, down 482 points, or 14.34% from December last year.
My share portfolio took a beating this year as well. Although there was a net cash injection of S$170,000 into the portfolio, its value only increased by S$33,644. Even if I take the dividend received into consideration, there is still a net lost of about 4%. The only consolation is, the lost is smaller than the index. This shows again one advantage of dividend investment. In time of market volatility, dividend income can be used to reinvest into the market and hence cushioned the effect of volatility. UT portfolio value dropped about 10% for the year, or 4% when dividend income is taken into consideration.
The dividend income from both shares and UT investment was higher this year, as I continued to invest in dividend yielding stocks, UT and retail bonds. Total dividend received this year was S$151,364.00, which was above the target set a year ago. This was with the help of some special dividend following merger of City Springs and Keppel Inf Tr, and the return of capital from MIIF after the fund closure. In the coming year, some of the dividend yielding counters will disappear from my portfolio. So I will not raise the dividend target, but keep it at S$150,000.00 The chart below shows the monthly dividend.
May I take this opportunity to Wish everyone a healthy, peaceful and successful 2016.
